Inchmarnock, Northpark

Mid park – Cup Marks. NS 018609. On the W side of Inchmarnock near North Park is a boulder. 1.40-1.50m with 5 cup marks, three of which are ringed.

Miss J Middleton per Miss DN Marshall 1977

Situated in pasture above the cliff-top, about 100m inland, near the only access from the beach through the cliffs, is a hard-to-find flat schist slab, leaning at an angle on another slab. It is 145m NNW of a bend in the ruined wall and 140m NNW of the S end of the higher portion of that wall, and measures 1.25m by 1.25m, 0 to 0.25m high, sloping 15 degrees WNW. On its smooth surface are: a cup-and-complete-ring 15cm in diameter, with a shallow radial groove from the cup, and at least 3 other cups, one of these very probably one ringed, and the others possibly so. There are faint traces of other carving. Greatest carving depth - 2cm.

R W B Morris 1981

Inchmarnock. Cup and Ring. NS 018609 North Park. Jessica Middleton 1976. D and E 1977. 5 cup marks, 3 of which are ringed. On light grey schist slab of stone 3.10 x 3.30m. It might have been detached from live rock by the blast of a shell, shell hole close to it. (Inchmarnock was used for practice firing during Hitler’s War). Slab lies tilted, stone very much weathered.

Marshall 1985

NS 020 600 (island centre) The Archaeology of Inchmarnock Research Project, initated by the island's new owner, Lord Smith, was undertaken over the period 1999 to 2004 with the aim of providing as complete a record as possible of the island's archaeology; of identifying and understanding better what was there, precisely where it was, and how it might be preserved for future generations.

The overarching objectives of the project were to consider how Inchmarnock's inhabitants made use of their island landscape in the medieval and later period and how the island itself related to the wider world.

The preliminary results of each season's fieldwork, together with assessments of the artefacts and environmental remains recovered, were reported on an annual basis. In tandem with this was an extensive radiocarbon-dating programme, providing the chronological framework for the investigation.

Sponsor: Sir Robert Smith

Headland Archaeology, C Lowe 2008

NS 020 600 (island centre) An archaeological survey and evaluation was carried out on the island of Inchmarnock. Both prehistoric and medieval aspects of the island's past were explored. Building surveys were completed for the three farm steadings of Northpark, Midpark and Southpark.

Full reports have been lodged with the NMRS.

Sponsor: Sir Robert Smith

Headland Archaeology, S Halliday, 2000

NS 020 600 (island centre) Evaluation of the large cairn (Site 1) at the north end of the island revealed a stone kerb, reinforcing its interpretation as a funerary monument. It may, however, have been augmented with field clearance stones at a later date. The cup-and-ring marked stone (Site 3), near Northpark, was found to be a discrete slab, rather than part of a rock outcrop. Meanwhile, a series of upright stones (Site 7), in the woodland south of Southpark, may represent the lines of old field dykes, long since robbed of their stone.

A detailed survey of St Marnock’s chapel and its immediate environs was undertaken. Excavations in the field to the west of the chapel failed to find any evidence of the cemetery mentioned in the documentary records. A ditch, however, was located. It may represent the line of an old enclosure around the site.

Medieval corn-drying may be indicated by the robbed structures at Site 8. These, together with the two clearance cairns and old dyke at Site 11, may represent outlying elements of the small medieval or later settlement at Site 5, surveyed here for the first time. Meanwhile, evidence from the caves at the south end of the island (Sites 16A & 16B) suggests they were resorted to on a temporary basis in the medieval period.

Finally, one site (Site 9), previously identified as a possible structure, was found to be a natural feature.

Sponsor: Sir Robert Smith

Headland Archaeology, Stuart Halliday and Christopher Lowe, 2000

NS 0176 6078 Site 3 Discovered in 1976 by Jessica Middleton. Excavated trench around stone in 2000 clearly indicates this is a detached slab of schist, 1.5m x 1.3m and 0.10-0.17m thick. On its surface is a cup with a complete ring, 170mm in diameter, and one cup mark 120mm in diameter. Three further cups, possibly with rings, previously reported but not identified.

C Lowe 2008

This cup-and-ring marked slab is situated in moorland 270m WSW of Northpark farmsteading (NS06SW 32). It is as previously described.

Visited by RCAHMS (GFG, AGCH, JRS) 3 June 2009.